


Fra(ud)gile hearts

by YunoJuno



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Kissing, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-27 19:50:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18198566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YunoJuno/pseuds/YunoJuno
Summary: Faking to be a couple was relatively easy. Until it wasn’t. Then Juuzou took charge and things became messy (and not in the way Seidou expected them to).





	Fra(ud)gile hearts

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for valentines but posted uuuuh. Over a month later.

Valentine’s Day. How lovely. Actually, not at all.

Seidou had spent the entirety of his days at the academy trying to best Akira Mado so naturally he never had time to make many friends, much less get himself a girlfriend. Which left him both inexperienced and bitter every 14th February.

Akira wasn’t the type to give away homemade chocolate. Seidou couldn’t even imagine her cooking. The image of her standing in her kitchen, wearing some plain approon and pouring chocolate into forms that she stocked away in the refrigerator was entirely absurd. No, Mado was the kind of girl who would never give away chocolate with any kind of romantic connotations. Instead, every year without fail she would buy all of her teachers and coworkers store-bought obligation chocolate. Cold and impersonal, very much like her. But fancy enough that you couldn’t help but feel just a tiny bit happy at receiving a pice and give her something nice back on white day.

Seidou hadn’t expected anything outside of this, which was why he was a bit startled to see a bunch of candy lying on his desk. Until a tiny had full of red markings gingerly picked one of the pieces up and unwrapped it. Oh, it was just Juuzou’s usual candy. But something was different today because when the albino saw him he lit up. 

“Takizawa! There is something very important!”

“...What?” Why would he turn to him now, when he never had before? It was baffling but maybe… many not entirely unwelcome. Well, that was dependant on what this ‘important’ thing was.

“I can’t talk now so I’ll tell you after work. So wait for me, okay?” Juuzou could see the hesitation in Seidou’s mannerisms. On one hand, he was curious and more than a little flattered Juuzou would ask him instead of say Mado or Houji or Amon. On the other hand, he was familiar with the general weirdness surrounding Juuzou.

“Here, take this.” Juuzou dropped one of his candies into Seidou’s lap and as he hurried away to meet Shinohara he shouted over his shoulder “and wait for me!”

Letting the intrigued part of him emerge victorious from his inner argument Seidou waited for Juuzou. Seeing that he really had waited Juuzou smiled, waving at him.

Because of the chilly wind Juuzou had borrowed one of Shinohara’s jackets and it hung loosely on his petite frame vaguely reminiscent of a tent. Seeing Seidou almost wanted to laugh until he realised it looked kind of cute. Then he just concentrated heavily on kicking a pebble on the road instead. He was so focused on this that he didn’t realise at first when they had arrived and Juuzou had to tug at his sleeve.

When Seidou looked up the first thing he saw was chipped paint. The next thing was the letters they were spelling out, no kanji only three simple kana. Somehow, some way they aggravated him to no end. ‘Ka-fu-e’ cafe. Juuzou’s important thing had been a cafe. One with a large poster exclaiming in bold pink lettering ‘Valentine’s Day 30% off if you bring your partner’

Seidou hadn't felt this used in a while. Completely, utterly deceived. Which sounded extraordinarily dramatic but it had to be if it was going to explain the odd excitement when Juuzou had been straight up nice to him and the later disappointment when finding out it was just some stupid act.

“This place has some amazing strawberry shortcake so I wanted to show you!” Juuzou quipped. His red slippers contrasted stupidly against the half melted snow on the sidewalk. Seidou didn’t look up from them. Now he felt even more stupid. Maybe Juuzou was actually trying to be nice and he had jumped to conclusions?

“I don’t even like sweets though…”

“Ah…” 

“But I could go for a coffee right now. I guess.” Shrugging awkwardly, Seidou stuck his hands in the pockets of his coat. Juuzou nodded and led the way inside with him shuffling after.

Inside the biting cold wind was easily forgotten, appearing like an hallucination long gone in the face of the café’s warm and cozy atmosphere. Red paper hearts hung from the ceiling and flowers in pink and white adorned the tables along with red tablecloth.

“Order up.” Clear nails drummed against the stiff paper menu, circling the golden ribbons adorning it as it was dropped into Seidou’s lap without much care. Painted lips smiled stiffly, with no effort to mask the exasperation she felt; it was clear the waitress would rather be anywhere but here.

“Coffee,” he mumbled stiffly, pushing the menu towards Juuzou for the younger to order whatever he pleased. Seidou wasn’t paying for it, so he didn’t have the energy to care about nutritional values or the health of his coworker. Besides, Juuzou was nineteen. Almost an adult, despite the careless childishness he carried himself with.

It took a few minutes for their order to arrive, a time that felt much longer due to Juuzou’s nonexistent attempts to make conversation. Seidou had the sneaking suspicion that talking might have made the awkWard atmosphere slightly more bearable but hesitance to be the one to start speaking weighted heavy. Whatever Juuzou was interested in, he probably was not so when a steaming cup was placed in front of him he grabbed it and greedily gulped it down, only to nearly spit it out the next second. It tasted like a mix of expensive dirt and motor oil. Burning, boiling motor oil. The waitress sent him a disgusted look as he quickly put a napkin to his mouth and tried not to spit it out, but he couldn’t stop a small amount from running down his chin. He swore under his breath, though the suspicion that she already knew exactly what he had muttered was overwhelming.

“Mmh, this is good.” Juuzou sighed satisfied, seemingly oblivious to Seidou’s suffering. Disgruntled eyes narrowed as slightly shaking fingers wrapped around the cup, he placed his lips on the rim and blew gently onto the hot liquid. It must have taken at least five minutes before Seidou could do anything but take tiny, careful sips at which point he downed the remaining coffee in two large gulps. Grimacing at the taste sill he looked over at Juuzou’s sweets. He wasn’t in the mood for it but…

“Can I have some?” Juuzou looked up from where he had been viciously attacking a pastry with his fork, a surprised look on his face.

“Uh, sure.” With that he looked at the sweets before them and made a decision, pushing his cupcake forward. Seidou gratefully accepted and bit into it, immediately grimacing. It was way too sweet! Still, it was better than the lingering taste of bitter motor oil so he took another bite. In the time it took him to eat that singular cupcake Juuzou had devoured all of the other pastries he had ordered.

When they finally stood at the counter ready to pay Seidou realised that despite the horrid coffee spending time with Juuzou hadn’t been too bad. In the next few seconds his good mood was crushed as tiny hands wrapped around his, interlacing their fingers while Juuzou stared up at him with wide eyes and demanded he’d pay.

“Wait!” Seidou pulled his hand away and took a step back. The tips of his ears were red as he continued “why should I pay for what you ate?!”

“Because you love me!” Juuzou’s cheeky grin sent shivers up his spine.

“Do.. do not!”

“Um excuse me… “They were interrupted by the timid cashier. With her bangs purposely covering her face- in shame?- she pressed on with a shaky voice “are you really a couple? I-I’m sorry! That’s too sudden of a question isn’t it? It’s just that.. people try to take advantage of our deals and senpai will be angry at me again…”

“Of course we are,” Juuzou lied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He grabbed Seidou’s tie and suddenly pulled him closer. Now their faces were almost touching, the tip of their noses in contact with each other. Warm breath mingled on their lips before Juuzou finally learned in and connected them.

As quickly as it had happened Juuzou pulled back and looked at the cashier with a smirk. “Don’t believe me?”

Seidou was just as, if not more, flustered than the girl who promptly rang them up, blushing and shaking. As soon as they stepped outside Seidou turned towards the younger with an upset expression “That’s a little too far to go just to save some money don’t you think!?”

“What’s the big deal? It’s not like it was your first kiss,” a mischievous smirk appeared on Juuzou’s face and he leaned in further “riiiight?”

“Of, Of course not!” Seidou frowned at the quite frankly outrageous boy. “I have had a kiss before… yes.” He nodded blushing.

“Ha! You haven’t!”

“Have!”

“Have SO not!” Juuzou had to lean against the wall, pearls of laughter bubbling up and floating off into the vast sky. In the clear air the sound gave the impression of being much louder than it actually was, bouncing off of every available surface.

“Shut up…” He muttered, pulling his coat up higher to obscure his blush. “Anyhow, that doesn't even count as a kiss. It was really fake!” Juuzou laughed again, a rather pretty sound Seidou was unable to appreciate due to its mocking nature. Quick feet danced forward through the street, leaving him to stumbling chase after. They ran through a few alleyways, finally stopping to catch their breath with red faces and panting giggles. 

Valentine’s Day. How lovely.


End file.
